Dracula - L'amore perduto

It will be probably until the end of time - new Dracula features, year after year. This time (and I cannot really say I remember a lot others) it is focusing of Vlad's romantic character. He is not the Vampire born out of thin air - he has a beef with God almighty and he would rather die, then live countless lives without his beloved wife.

This is the base to the story and yes...Vlad carries new weapon: perfume. This one makes his surroundings to go wild and deliver him whatever he wants from them. His main goal is to retrieve his wife, and he doesn't perceive as a hedonistic person but as a man with great suffer.

The other characters are decorative and the most conspicuous from all other characters, that surrounds him is off course the Priest that we all missed lately on both types of screens: Christoph Waltz. This movie is pretty simple and doesn't try to re-invent the myth about Vampire Vlad but take another and more human direction.

Caleb Landry Jones is always a brilliant casting to main role and he is, off course, does his job fantastically. At the end of all things, it is a great version, which personally I will have difficulty to remember, due to overflowing versions over the years. And yet, it is pretty nice to see that Luc Besson is still got it.

I have to admit that when I sat down to watch this 2025 movie titled "Dracula: A Love Tale", from writer and director Luc Besson, I initially sat down with some hesitation.

Isn't the "Dracula" tale one that has been bled dry? No pun intended. I mean, no movie will ever come close to the 1992 movie "Bram Stoker's Dracula" from director Francis Ford Coppola. Yet, I still opted to check out this movie as Luc Besson actually does have some pretty good movies to his name.

The storyline in the movie is one that the most of us are more than familiar with, from exposure to it either through the book, or from the many, many renderings of a filmed version of the story. But there was still some new aspects brought to the narrative here, so it wasn't just a full-blown copy-paste work of previous told narratives in other "Dracula" movies. But of course the core of the narrative is one that is repetitive, as it has been brought to the screen so many times before 2025.

Of the entire cast ensemble, I was actually only familiar with Caleb Landry Jones and Christoph Waltz. At first, I was not really particularly keen on Caleb Landry Jones in the role as Vlad Tepes, but he really managed to carry it nicely, and the way that the make-up and special effects departments, and not to forget the wardrobe, brought the character to life really helped quite a lot. The acting performances in the movie were certainly good.

Now, visually, I have to say that the movie was quite nice. There were a lot of really nice things to witness, and the attention to detail was just phenomenal. Without such great effects, the movie wouldn't have been quite as effective.

While the movie is entertaining and enjoyable, I have to say that there was still a lingering sensation of this tale having been re-told too many times already, and thus made this 2025 movie feel somewhat unnecessary to have seen the light of day - pardon the pun. I am not saying that the movie is bad, far from it.

My rating of writer and director Luc Besson's 2025 take on the classic Bram Stoker story lands on a six out of ten stars.

Before giving me a thumbs down. Read at least what I have to say :)

Luc Besson's Dracula is a visually arresting, emotionally charged, and hauntingly original take on the iconic legend. From the very first frame, it's clear that this is not just another vampire film-this is Besson in full command of his craft, blending gothic horror, art-house style, and deeply human storytelling into something truly unforgettable.

The cinematography is stunning-moody shadows, rich textures, and bold color contrasts create a dreamlike atmosphere that pulls you into Dracula's cursed world. The pacing is masterful, slowly building tension while allowing the characters to breathe and evolve. And the music? A hypnotic blend of classical and modern that adds a visceral pulse to every scene.

The performances are outstanding. The lead actor's portrayal of Dracula is both terrifying and tragic, capturing the eternal conflict between monstrous hunger and lost humanity. The supporting cast adds layers of depth, especially the heroine, whose chemistry with Dracula gives the film a beating heart.

What sets this Dracula apart is its ambition. Besson doesn't just retell the story-he reimagines it, fusing romance, philosophy, and horror into a mythic, poetic experience. There are echoes of The Fifth Element in its stylization, but this is darker, more mature, and grounded in emotional truth.

This is a Dracula for the 21st century-mysterious, seductive, and deeply cinematic. Highly recommended for fans of intelligent horror and visionary filmmaking.

Verdict: A modern gothic masterpiece.

It takes real nerve to tackle Bram Stoker's most-filmed anti-hero in 2025. First, the role has already been immortalised by everyone from Bela Lugosi to Gary Oldman, so comparisons are savage. Second, gothic horror sits miles away from Luc Besson's usual playground of kinetic sci-fi (The Fifth Element) and neon crime capers (Léon). Walking in, I honestly wasn't sure whether we'd get an idiosyncratic triumph or a beautiful train wreck.

Happily, it's closer to the former. Visually, the film is a feast: swirling Carpathian blizzards bleed into candle-lit castle corridors, while Besson's trademark flair for colour and movement gives the vampire myth a fresh, almost operatic sheen. The cast meet the challenge head-on-Dracula himself is equal parts seductively reptilian and heartbreakingly lonely, and the supporting ensemble never drops the ball. I found myself grinning at several sly nods to past adaptations yet never felt trapped in pastiche.

Where the film stumbles is in the marrow of its story. The plot beats are solid but seldom surprising, and a mid-act detour about Dracula's centuries-old heartbreak lingers a few crimson drops too long. Trim twenty minutes, sharpen a couple of character arcs, and we might be talking instant classic. As it stands, Dracula is a very good film-bold, stylistically sumptuous, thoroughly entertaining-but not quite the genre-redefining masterpiece its ambition hints at.

Verdict: 7.5 / 10. Worth the ticket for the imagery and performances alone; just don't expect it to eclipse Coppola's fang-print on the legend.

Luc Besson's *Dracula* tries to be bold and artistic but ends up as an over-stylized, slow-moving mess. While the visuals are striking, they can't hide the film's self-indulgent pacing and lack of real scares. The story drags, weighed down by pretentious themes and melodramatic performances. Dracula himself is more mopey than menacing, and the supposed emotional depth feels forced. Strangely, the film borrows heavily in tone and aesthetic from Patrick Süskind's *Perfume*-the same obsessive atmosphere, the same brooding romanticism-but without the narrative clarity or psychological sharpness. Besson's ambition to "reimagine" the legend results in a film that's more style than substance. Despite its glossy presentation, this version of *Dracula* is cold, derivative, and ultimately forgettable.